11Dec16

Tibet documents of late U.S. diplomat published

A senior U.S. diplomat in China in the early 1900s insisted that Tibet was an
integral part of China and should obey the central government.

A bilingual edition of William W. Rockhill papers related to Tibet has been
published by China Intercontinental Press, the publisher said Sunday.

The scholar-diplomat served as the minister of legation of the United States in
China, the highest U.S. diplomatic representative to the Qing Dynasty
(1644-1911), from 1905 to 1909.

The book has many documents relating to Rockhill and Tibet. In addition to his
Tibetan travels and studies, it includes important archives and documents
about the 13th Dalai Lama's requesting an audience with Emperor Guangxu,
China's penultimate emperor; and Empress Dowager Cixi, Guangxu's aunt, in
Beijing in 1908.

The book also contains diplomatic telegraphs, letters, minutes of talks,
government documents, newspaper clippings, manuscripts and diaries, the
publisher said.

Rockhill traveled to Tibet twice and was a renowned Tibetologist.

He explicitly expressed this view in his correspondence with U.S. President
Theodore Roosevelt and declared his standpoint to the 13th Dalai Lama on
behalf of the U.S. government.

The book is in Chinese and English.

[Source: Xinhua, Beijing, 11Dec16]

This document has been published on 19Dec16 by the Equipo Nizkor and Derechos Human Rights. In accordance with
Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a
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